Each animal is adapted to its ecological niche by its evolutionary history and its current experience. Each faces the problem of partitioning its time in such a fashion that it can successfully perform those activities required for reproductive success (e.g., feeding, territorial defense, courtship and mating, parental care, houskeeping, etc.). It is assumed that one of the major forces shaping the animal's adaptation to its niche is the optimization of the solution to this problem of time partitioning. The present research by laboratory simulation of the "relevant" aspects of the animal's niche, will elucidate the animal's representation of its niche, the strategies based on this representation, and the processes by which the animal modifies its representation and its strategies. The research will focus on feeding behavior and will explore the feeding chain, search, identification, procurement, and consumption, by means of operant methodology. The major assumption is that the principles of optimization and the principles of schedules of reinforcement are two sides of the same coin.